Doctor Accused of Using Painkiller to Quicken Death of 8-Year-Old

(Fox News) – Police are investigating a claim by a Los Angeles County coroner’s investigator that an anesthesiologist used a painkiller to hasten the death of a gravely injured boy to increase the likelihood his organs could be harvested without deterioration, a newspaper reported Monday.

The investigation involves an 8-year-old who went into cardiac arrest after nearly drowning in a washing machine in 2013 and was removed from life support at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times said.

The county’s chief medical examiner at the time listed significant causes of death as near-drowning and fragile X syndrome, a genetic abnormality that causes intellectual and physical disabilities. CONTINUE